Empowerment and transformation in South Africa’s telecommunications sector has shown a remarkable degree of maturity, Deputy Minister of Communications Radhakrishna Padayachee said on Tuesday.
He told the opening of Futurex 2004, a trade fair held in Sandton, that there has been significant transformation in the sector in the past 10 years.
”We have witnessed an expansion of the telecommunications infrastructure, the democratisation and transformation of institutions such as Telkom, Sentech, the SABC and the South African Post Office,” he said.
He also said the mobile telephone industry has expanded rapidly, with more than 19-million people now connected. New policies and regulations in the industry have also been promulgated.
The Department of Communications has played a leading role in policy development and in the sector, Padayachee said.
He urged the private sector to take centre stage in driving the economic growth of the industry as it is critical to development and expansion of telecommunications infrastructure.
Futurex 2004 runs until Friday with more than 300 exhibitors from the telecommunications and information technology sectors. About 20 000 visitors are expected to attend the exhibitions. — Sapa